Yahoo Mail bugs may be behind Android ‘botnet’ spam, says researcher

Accusations that an Android-based botnet is spewing spam may, in fact, be no such thing, but instead a sign that criminals are exploiting bugs in the Yahoo Mail app for Google's mobile operating system, a security firm said today.

"There's no smoking gun, but my guess is that it's not malware," said Kevin Mahaffrey, co-founder and CTO of San Francisco-based Lookout Security, essentially dismissing the botnet possibility. "It's more likely an issue with the Yahoo Mail app."

Lookout has discovered what Mahaffrey called "potential security issues" in Yahoo's Android app, and reported its findings to the California search company's security team. Read more...